When it comes to living a healthier life, there are a couple of harmful toxins that you’ll want to quickly remove from your diet. These foods are notorious for wreaking havoc on our systems and leaving us feeling depleted of energy and unable to focus and thrive.
Worse, these foods ultimately increase our health risks in many ways, putting us in serious danger, so the sooner you can eliminate them from your life, the better.
1. Sugary Calories
It should come as no surprise that sugar wreaks havoc on your system. It can mess with your blood sugar and even with your brain since it doesn’t quite measure calories in the same way it does solid food. In fact, weight gain and heart health are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how toxic sugar is on your system.
Sugary drinks are also associated with type 2 diabetes, obesity and heart disease, just to name a few. In fact, studies have shown that people who consume high-levels of fructose are in great danger of developing fatty liver disease because of the way excess sugar ends up stuck to your organs rather than being eliminated from your body.
Sadly, a report by the American Heart Association (AHA) discovered that the average American consumes approximately 22 teaspoons of sugar every single day rather than limiting consumption to only 6-9 teaspoons as recommended by health professionals!
So, by minimizing the number of sugary calories in your diet, you’ll not only minimize your risks, but you’ll eliminate a good portion of wasted calories: these are calories that don’t provide nourishment or sustenance. They simply add inches to your waistline.
Need help getting over your sugar cravings? Here are a couple easy ways to get started:
Replace fruit juice with raw fruits: Satisfy your sweet tooth and sugar cravings without risking your health by replacing fruit juice with raw fruits such as grapes or mangoes. Not only will they provide the sweet fix you’re looking for, but they’ll help stop sugar cravings in its tracks.
Eat Dark Chocolate: When you’re dealing with a sugar craving consider replacing high-sugar snacks with dark chocolate. Not only will this help curb sugar cravings but studies have shown that the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds found in dark chocolate help improve your overall heart health! Just make sure that you stick with chocolate that contains more than 70% cocoa.
So now you better understand the way sugar affects your body and the many reasons you should minimize your daily intake, but there’s yet another common culprit hidden amongst our shelves and pantries and if sugar had an evil twin, this would be it!
2. Processed Foods
Processed foods are anything where there is some form of chemical processing involved.
While everything we eat is processed in some way, there’s a difference between mechanical processing (such as in harvesting fruits and vegetables, for example) and chemical processing where unhealthy, artificial substances are injected into the foods.
These processed foods are loaded with all kinds of toxins, including sugar but they’re also filled with dozens of artificial ingredients that you may not even recognize.
In fact, many of them have been carefully engineered to trigger pleasure sensors that provide temporary satisfaction while tricking your brain into overeating.
Bottom line:
Processed foods are high in unhealthy ingredients such as preservatives, colorants and flavor chemicals, while low in important nutrients and proteins that your body needs to thrive.
Processed food can become just as addictive as sugar because it messes with your brain chemistry, hijacking your body’s natural ability to detect when you’re full. This leads to severe overeating and of course, that leads to obesity.
